When we hear about a piece of legislation that could right a wrong, we want it to get a fair shake.

Sure, not every bill passes, but doesn't every bill deserve to be heard, at least in committee?

We think it does, so we gave a nudge to encourage the molasses-slow moving legislature to consider a bill that's been a wallflower for too long.

The bill would protect those who pay fees to Continuing Care Retirement Communities, or CCRCs, which include assisted living facilities, independent living communities and long-term care units.

It would affect the more than 10,000 seniors who live in 25 CCRCs across New Jersey.

Before moving into a CCRC, would-be residents pay a move-in fee, and when the resident dies, 90 percent of the fee is returned to the resident's estate.

The fee is generally hundreds of thousands of dollars.

At issue is how much time can pass before a CCRC must return the fee to the resident's estate. Currently, the facilities can hold on to that money indefinitely -- usually until a new resident moves into the unit, as spelled out in the contracts -- but this new bill would require the fee be returned in a year.

Why is this an important consumer protection?

Terry Nagle in 2006.

The reason was made clear earlier this year when Bamboozled profiled a reader who waited more than five years to receive the money his mother laid out for her CCRC unit.

Ed Nagle's mom Terry moved into a CCRC in 2004, paying a $272,821 move-in fee. The contract said her estate would receive 90 percent back, or $245,538, after the unit was reoccupied.

When Terry Nagle died in 2010 at age 84, Ed Nagle took charge of her estate, which included collecting that refund.

"I was pretty patient waiting for the refund for the first two years," he said at the time.

Nagle said he offered to help the CCRC find a new resident. The facility turned down the offer.

Then he had to file tax returns for his mom's estate using numbers that included the expected 90 percent CCRC refund. The estate owed $14,820 in estate taxes.

Nagle paid the tax bill even though the CCRC unit remained empty and the refund money remained with the CCRC.

Nagle said he kept asking for progress, and the facility suggested several times he spend $30,000 to $40,000 to renovate the unit to enhance its marketability.

He called that "soft extortion."

Five years passed and the unit still wasn't reoccupied. Nagle wanted to be done. He accepted an offer that returned 63 percent of the value, or $171,877 -- $73,661 less than it was supposed to be.

And because he accepted less, his mom's estate was worth less. It was no longer subject to the estate tax.

Nagle applied to the state for a refund of the overpayment.

"Surprise -- a catch-22. There is a three-year statute of limitations on refunding paid estate taxes," Nagle said at the time. "So our family got ripped by the CCRC and then ripped by the state of New Jersey."

Because of the refund delays, the estate and Terry Nagle's heirs lost $88,481 in all.

FINDING FAIRNESS

Nagle's experience put him on a mission to make sure this never happened to another family.

He worked to get Sen. Christopher "Kip" Bateman (R-Somerset) to introduce S3225 in 2015. The bill would require CCRCs to give refunds within a year of vacancy.

The bill sat in committee without a hearing, and was reintroduced in the current session as S182.

We asked Bateman's office why there was a delay, and his office said they were waiting for Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Middlesex), chair of the Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens committee, to move on a hearing.

So we turned to Vitale. He said he had agreed to meet with CCRC industry reps before having a hearing, and he promised that would happen in February. The bill would then be discussed in committee in March, he said.

Ed Nagle, of Whitehouse Station, has been working to get legislation passed to put a time limit on refunding entrance fees for retirement communities.

So we waited.

Nagle continued to reach out to members of the committee for support, but no one responded to his emails, he said.

"I guess that tells the real story - no interest in correction or protection of senior citizens," Nagle said. "Just let the CCRCs keep doing what there are doing - more money for them."

One positive thing, Nagle said, was that Sen. Bateman's office is also considering legislation to end the time limit for an estate or inheritance tax refund in cases like this. It wouldn't eliminate the lagging CCRC refunds, but at least the tax issue would disappear.

Now that it's April, we wanted to know the progress.

Vitale's office said he had a call with the CCRCs on Feb. 15.

"Because of the way the legislative schedule worked out, we actually haven't had a Health hearing since Feb. 27, and the agenda for that day was planned out long before the call with the CCRCs," Vitale's spokeswoman said.

There was no hearing in March, nor will there be one in April.

The Nagle family gathers to celebrate the life of Terry Nagle after her funeral. Pictured left to right in the back row are Terry Nagle's grandchildren Ed, Dan, Justin and Gavin, and her children Ed and Anne. In the front row left to right are Terry Nagle's children Kathleen and Richard, and grandchild Erin.

When we asked for a more specific timeline going forward, the spokeswoman said: "It's our understanding that the sponsor is still in talks with the provider groups, so the bill will not be posted until their talks have concluded and they let us know how they want to move forward."

So we went back to Bateman, the bill's sponsor.

"Having spoken to other organizations that have concerns, [Bateman] feels the bill should be brought up and be worked out through the committee process," a spokeswoman said.

She said they're reaching out to Vitale's office to request he post the bill for consideration.

That's a victory in getting the molasses train moving.

If you think this is important legislation, give your state senator a call to share your support. You can find their contact information here.

You can also call your assemblypeople. After hearing about the senate version of the bill, Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-Union), a member of the Assembly's Health and Senior Services committee, introduced companion legislation: A4588.

Nagle is eager for the committee to hear the bill.

"We need a cure and common sense applied to this CCRC rip-off problem," he said. "This really is a consumer fraud issue."